The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-15
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
uehine with ,ha rio. of the Ringers.

Touching with the Tips of the Fingers.
To Editor the Indianapolis Journals
I am surprised that SO scholarly a gentleman
as Bishop Hurst should have fallen in with the
superficial view that Christianity is losing its
hold upon the masses and then attempt to tell
why. and to assign a chief reason that the
church, the representative OF Christianity,
touches the masses only with the tips OF the
fingers. This is unworthy of man OF dis
broad views, and culture, and abundant laoors,
and large faith that the truths and precepts OF
the gospel are gaining upon the adverse forces
daily; and it is both unwise and uutruthfui to
assume to the contrary, and to direct the
thoughts and energies of the church accordingly.
The great moral fact of to-day is that the little
leaven of apostolic times never before affected
the mass of mankind as it does to-day, and 1T IS
the 81 blime faith of the church that the whole
lump will ultimately be leavened by it. The proc
ess may be slow, and, measured by mans cycles
the time may seem long. but no genuine believer
doubts it's ultimate accomplishment
What then2 Why these perennial carpings
and bemoanings7 Partly because of that impa-
thence which cannot wait Gods method-"First
the blade then the ear, after that the full
corn in the ear"-but chiefly because many
people have erected false standards of measure
mont; teaching now for doctrines the com
mandments of men, and laying burdens upon
the shoulder which neither they nor any other
fathers can bear, just as their kith did two
thousand years ago, and will two thousand
years hence. Phariseeim is self-perpetuating,
and prolific. Let look at some Of these
standards. Perhaps the most common one by
attendance upon church services. Could any
thing be more deceptive2 Deducting from tho
number In attendance on any given Sunday
those who there to cloak the most hideous
practices such bank-wrecking and fashiona-
BILE gambli ing in stocks and margins, and hosts
of embezzlers. not to mention those who lily
conceal licentious lives, not one in five of those
whose names are borne upon the church records
in this city, or any other city, or town, or coun-
try, attends any given service on ordinary oc-
casions, a rule; and he is Phariseo of no
mean standing who writes against all the absent
ones words of condemnation, or who assumes
that the gospel has no influence upon their lives
Some, indeed, may be culpably Indifferent to the
duty and privileges of religious worship In the
sanctuary, but the inevitable accidents and Incl
dents of the average life of bread winners are
not favorable to the enjoy meut of such luxury
as church-goinR. The Sabbath day OF rest
is not only Gods law but mans as we'll, and not
from religious stand point alone or chiefly The
fundamental idea, both in the divine law and
the human. is rest; and he is culpably unfamiliar
with the exactons which necessity lays upon
the toilng millions who supposes that it is the
most convenient thing in the world for that
father who takes his frugal MONDAY meal
in his bucket to his work, after having
b beeh e.r out h OF PEG ,ong enough zach his
work by seven, or before, and who returns not
earlier than seven, at the close OF the day, and
grow up around him almost strangers TO him; or
for the mother of that family, with her part of
the burdens of life faithfully performed, to at
tend church regularly. or even occasionally.
do not say that the temptation for such q
family to bestIr themselves little possible
on Sunday is great, but say the necessity for
rest is Imperative. Such persons may belong to
church, they may not aud the essential
truths of the gospel may, nevertheless. mold
their moral character, and sweeten their cups
vet. measured by the arbitrary standard OF the
average croaker they are not touched, or il
touched at all, touched only by the tips of the
gospel fingers. because they are not church
he ,o c+tr HnrYa lrrA
il it carries no benefit to these toiling millions
though they no. regular in their church at
tendance, or, in extreme cases. never 60 at all;
and he is not a wise teacher who does not recog-
nize the fact that it does benefit them And
this class of facts does not apply to waf e-work-
ers only nor even chiefly, for the employer not
only ordinarily works more hours and harder
than the emplo yed. but inevitably carries with
him, day and night, Sundays we'll as Mon
days, depressing burdens and anxieties which
the wageworker is stranger to, so that IN
many cases church-going would furnish no re-
lief even il he might control his time and af-
fairs to partake of this great Christian luxury
1t is needless and unwise in this connection to
rail out against the oppression of the poor and
TO suggest that less ornate churches or palmer
and cheaper Sunday dressing by church-goers
would make the church more attractive. These
have nothing to do with it, absolutely nothing
AS q matter OF fact, non-church- goers are as
numerous among the well-dressed as among
those more poorly clad. in proportion TO their
relative numbers. and it is not because the SUBJ
urban church is palmer that it is better attended
cause OF law of social affinity that cares naught
for appearances Besides. the burdens which
the laborng man carries not imposed upon
him by human legislation by cruel social
customs. but they what they are by the
higher law of his being and much more univer-
sally imposed and much more equally distrib-
uted than impatient discomfort admits. The
world has never discovered any substitute for
patient. honest toll. There may he many cases
of oppression that are traceable to human av-
arice and to faulty human legislation, but the
real burdens OF life placed upon by divine
enactment Bread must be earned before bread
can be eaten, and with the millions now as it
ever has been and ever will be- it is one contn-
ued struggle to live at all. Meanwhile let
recognize the great fact OF the age that the gos-
pei is going into all ranks with its healing, COM
fortine power, it never went before. It is
lifting up the poor and making the rich gener
Gus. II is touching the masses with its broad,
open hand, not with the tips OF its fingers only,
carrying into humble homes from which few
ever go to church its richest blessings.
U. L. SEE,
For Harrison and Malone.
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